aceofspadessac

Rhye: 476 Shows Later, the music survives the label.

Coming to Sacramento tomorrow is the engimatically ambiguous singer/songwriter Rhye, and I think I am going to go and partake for a few different reasons:

1. Despite the nearly 500 shows Rhye has done in the last five years, I somehow have not managed to catch them live

2. It’s been five years since the debut album Woman was released, and I am genuinely curious to hear what five years of musical growth sounds like.

3. I’m still not 100 percent convinced that Rhye is a real person. I am half expecting to see an extremely convincing hologram, or perhaps some cleverly placed smoke and mirrors. (I mean, they did just legalize marijuana in Canada, Rhye IS Canadian — the smoke part seems likely, eh?)

Beyond those reasons though, Rhye has always fascinated with me. Their sudden rise on a random $1 million dollar record deal with “Woman” in 2013, and then their subsequent months and months on the road spent trying to buy themselves out of their own contract. It was the opposite of the dream most musicians had for their music.

On top of that though, the other crazy part about Rhye that always fascinated me, was that for a solid few months I was absolutely convinced Rhye was a very Tori Amos esque singer who had emerged in the new wave that was taking place of ethereal vocals and electropop sensibilities colliding together. Her voice was deep and sultry, and definitely took me to another place when I listened.

And then it was revealed that Rhye was actually Mike Milosh.

*brain exploded*

After five years, Rhye has definitely gone through some changes, evolution and some rough moments in between. Which, I assume, will all come out in his music. His new album, Blood, definitely seems to carry part of the pain of that process. The new album combines the heaviness of what it must be like to have to buy back your own soul, along with the inherent lightness that it must bring.

Tickets are still available for purchase online — click the link below to get your last minute tickets before it’s too late.